biologists?

Question

i want to be a biologist when i get older but dont know what kind can u give me some different kinds of biologists there are out in the world (i want something to do with medical stuff or medicine)

Answer 1

The main branches of biology are zoology, botany and microbiology. There is not much use to get a bachelor's degree in biology. You will need to go to medical school or graduate school to specialize in a certain field like biotech. If you are not willing to get an advance degree, I advice you to be major in something else. A bachelor's degree in biology will get you only a technician job.

Answer 2

The person who answered your question first is right. There are so many fields opening up it is mind boggling. Don't forget that Biology is actually a new field, the microscope hasn't even been around that long in the grand scheme of things...discovery after discovery is being made, especially within the last 100 years. You are embarking on a wonderful career with literally thousands of choices. We are opening the universe with our space exploration, and they will need Astro-biologists for research. There are countless research projects going on in "medicine" right now...Many will take high school students on for the summer to give you some idea. Check out college sites and look at the research they are doing, some will let you join...I started my own reasearch at my local community college, although I attend A&M and have been researching fecal coliforms in a major creek in our area. I love all of biology, but the worst for me has been picking an area to specialize in. So far, once I got past my general biology classes in college, my favorites have been Genetics, molecular/cellular biology, and evolutionary biology. I did fine in my other classes but really didn't care for invertabrate zoology or ecology, or even my forensic biology class...so it will come, you will find your spot.

Answer 3

If you were to give your career goal a title, you'd likely want to become a medical researcher. Frequently, such a person has spent many years in college as they are both a medical doctor (MD) and a MS or PhD in biochemistry.

There are other careers for biochemists in the discovery of new drugs. Every drug must go through extensive analysis on cells. So, you'd also have to be an expert in cellular biology.

My guess is, however, that you are still in high school. Keep in mind that biology is AWESOME! There are other careers in biology that include ecology, evolution, field biology, parasitology, and others. You might discover that you love these areas. But, you'd have to learn about them first ... they are all fantastic.

Good LUCK!

Answer 4

Great! There are many, many options available. You can do work ranging from what we call "basic science" - meaning discovering the basic mechanisms that make cells work - to more "clinical biology" - where you would be asking questions with direct impact on human health.

A few of the available options include:

1. geneticist - this could range from figuring out the genetics of inherited human disorders to using genetics as a tool to understand how genes function in "model organisms" like mice or fruit flies. Model organisms have more than you would think in common with humans, which allows medical discoveries to be made using these simple systems where you can manipulate genes and see what happens (you can't make mutant humans!). For example, the enzyme telomerase, which is mutated in most human cancers, was discovered in the single-celled protozoan Tetrahymena.

2. Molecular biologist - this uses the tools of recombinant DNA technology to understand the functions of genes, and tends to be focused on what we call the "central dogma of biology," meaning that you will be focusing on how the genome is replicated and kept free of mutations, and how the genes encoded in the DNA are expressed and regulated.

3. Biochemist - usually this involves trying to understand how enzymes work. Enzymes are the biological catalysts that make chemical reactions in cells go fast enough to support life. Biochemists are important because the drugs used to treat infection and disease usually target enzymes, and if we want to make new drugs, we need to understand how the enzymes we want to "turn off" work in the first place.

4. Immunologists work on how the immune system, which is our natural defense against disease, works.

5. Cell biologists study mostly how the structural parts of a cell function. This includes questions like how cells move things around from one part to another, how they communicate with each other, and how specialized cells (like skin cells) do their jobs.

There are lots of other options as well, and if you like computer science or engineering you might also consider starting on those paths as there is an enormous need for talented engineers and computer scientists in biology at the moment.

I am a basic scientist, with training mostly in biochemistry and molecular genetics. I work on how an animal develops from a single cell into an adult animal. For example, how does a neuron know to become a neuron, and then how does it know that it is supposed to migrate down to your toe rather than being in your nose?

I do research in a lab at a medical school. There are also lots of career options available working at pharmaceutical or biotechnology companies, or in government labs. For all of these choices, you will definitely want to go to a college with a good biology program (this doesn't have to mean a huge school!), and in most cases you will then want to go to to graduate school to get a masters or PhD.

That was a long answer, but I hope it was helpful! I would be happy to talk with you by email if you want. eunderscoreyoungmanatyahoodotcom